


Drowning in Moonlight

by pascallionsbox



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: C2E108, Character Study, F/M, POV Fjord (Critical Role), everyone's magic is unique to them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26346265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pascallionsbox/pseuds/pascallionsbox
Summary: Chest heaving and throat aching in the wide expanse of the night sky, Fjord wonders if you could drown on moonlight.[Fjord's POV during the Moonweaver scene in C2 Episode 108]
Relationships: Fjord & Jester Lavorre, Fjord/Jester Lavorre, can be read as either romantic or platonic - Relationship
Comments: 28
Kudos: 112





	Drowning in Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't stop thinking about the hex teleport because it was SUCH a good scene, symbolically and cinematically

Sometimes, Fjord is a little bit afraid of his magic.

Even after the falchion sank into the lava, even after he started wielding the Star Razor, there’s a slight hesitation before he casts a spell.

It’s the tiniest of pauses, only noticeable if you know to look for the slight hitch in his shoulders before pulling forth magic from the well of power in him. It’s in the extra lingering glance he gives the Star Razor when he summons its familiar weight into his hands, half-afraid that he’ll see the slick, mollusk-encrusted falchion staring back instead. It’s in the minute tremor in his hand as he fires a vibrant, floral green spell off instead of Uk’otoa’s sickly sea-green, relief and the warmth of Melora’s magic flooding through him.

Luminous, divine chains stretch from the celestial being to the Traveler, bright moonlight shining down on what was supposed to be a moonless night. Fjord’s head is pounding, both from the adrenaline and the proximity to the volcano’s heat.

“Please, no!” Jester’s voice rings out across the volcano’s crater, muted in the open air. Gone is the booming, larger than life amplification. Now her voice shakes with desperation, tiny in the face of a real god. 

“We are in over our heads.” Caduceus whispers with wide eyes, hands falling to his side as he takes a step back. Another shot of adrenaline for the road. If _Caduceus_ , expert of all things holy, thinks a situation like this is bad, well, Fjord was not going to debate the issue.

But then Jester’s feet lift off the craggy rock of the volcano and Fjord feels his stomach plummet.

He’s casting the spell before he even realizes it, running towards the lava in the center. For the first time since he nearly died on the ship and threw up that terrible crystal, Fjord does not hesitate. With an extended hand, he grasps onto the shadows clinging to Jester, willing them to coalesce with Hex.

He leaps into the crater. It’s the only way to get close enough. He ignores the uncomfortable volcanic heat rising underneath him, even if it reminds him all too much of that terrifying night in the Underforge, oppressing heat on his face and the falchion dripping with his blood. Still, Fjord leaps, eyes never once leaving the rising form of Jester as he clenches his fist.

In a quick rush of vertigo and blurriness, he’s there, falling for a second before he wraps his arms around the back of Jester’s shoulders and catches himself. 

“I know I’m not strong enough to pull you off; you have to let him go!” He has to shout to be heard over the heavy beating of the celestial’s wings and the rush of cold wind from this high up. Fjord has never been strong, not like her. Jester’s always the one doing the heavy lifting for them, shoulders squaring up as she yanks him to his feet, clasping his hand with a healing spell crackling through her fingers. 

He’s never been afraid of Jester’s magic. The warmth hers brings is effervescent, almost ticklish. It bubbles up into him, fizzling through his veins and washing his pain away in its wake. It’s seafoam, lapping up on the shore and clinging to his legs as the waves finally release their hold on his limbs. It’s the first breath his aching lungs get to take as he stumbles onto the sand.

“No! No, no, no, no, no!” She’s crying, tears and pleads spilling out of her frantically as she clings to Artagan. 

“Jester, we knew this might happen!” Underneath Fjord’s arms, her shoulders are shuddering with each hiccupy breath. It’s like each sob is threatening to tear her apart and the only thing keeping her in one piece is the death grip she has on Artagan. “He’s played with things that are larger than him; you _cannot_ go with him!”

The celestial watches them impassively from above, giving their chains another tug. Fjord hates them, hates the way they’ve made Jester fallen apart like this in seconds, hates the way their stupid magic chains rattle against each other like they’re real. 

Nothing good ever comes from chains. They’ve only ever taken his family away from him. His last glimpse of Mollymauk was of a distant purple figure in the distance, peacefully asleep by their campfire as rough chains lashed against Fjord’s ankles and his captors shoved a bag over his head. Then it was Yasha, a dull, orange undulating glow behind her neck as she swung Skingorger at him with an intent to kill and a destiny with the Chained Oblivion. 

Now, the chains come for Jester next.

It’s so fucking bright. The angelic being’s luminescent winged form is only outshone by the impossibly full moon that has appeared in the sky. Brilliant moonlight cascades down in resplendent ribbons of light, illuminating the tableau for all to see. Distantly, Fjord could hear the alarmed shouts of his friends scrambling about far below them.

Chest heaving and throat aching in the wide expanse of the night sky, Fjord wonders if you could drown on moonlight.

“Fjord, he’s my best friend!” The sob tears something loose out of Jester, the words all raw edges and despair. She might fall apart, he thinks, and he’s not sure if his arms are enough to keep her together.

“I know.” He says immediately. He doesn’t like Artagan, plain and simple. Like Beau, Fjord thinks her strength comes from being Jester, not from some strange, false god. But he understands better than anyone the sheer terror and desperation in Jester’s grip on her best friend, her oldest friend. He understands refusing to let them go, ready to go with them wherever despite their flaws. He understands loving someone, clinging to them because they love _you_ so fiercely, even when you were lost and at your most unlovable. 

“I know.” Fjord repeats again, because he does, doesn’t he? It’s why he’s up here, clinging to Jester’s trembling shoulders that could always hold up so much. She’s played in things larger than her and he _can’t_ let her go. “But we are here for all of you. You need to _let go_. We will catch you!”

Fjord wants nothing more than to shroud the two of them in mist, whisking Jester down to the safety of solid ground and the protection of their friends. Marion’s words echo in his brain: _You said you’d protect her_! As if he were a knight in shining armor and not a charlatan with a voice that didn’t fit quite right. 

He can’t be the one to choose for her. Because as much as he distrusts Artagan, as much as he is terrified for Jester, he can’t be the one to pull her away. Maybe if he were strong in mind like Beau, he would have the willpower to make the choice for her. He would have the strength to be hated by Jester in exchange for her safety.

He refuses to make the choice for her because deep down, he knows it is hers to make and he had promised her that he would stick by her, no matter what she landed on. And maybe that was the move of a coward, not a hero who could make the tough decisions. 

But Fjord has never claimed to be a hero and she had never asked him to be one. So instead, he holds on to her, suffocating in moonlight as he begs his oldest friend not to disappear into the air.

**Author's Note:**

> TRAVELERCON WAS A WILD RIDE, HUH????
> 
> I'm @pascallionsbox over on Tumblr! Comments are always appreciated, thanks for reading! :)


End file.
